PHILADELPHIA – March 12, 2014 – NELSON, a global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm has reached an agreement to acquire RipBang Studios, a multidisciplinary creative agency that specializes in the environmental graphic communication of memorable places. This combination of resources will allow both firms to expand client services, compete for branding projects on a larger scale and enhance creative opportunities that support additional growth. The deal will be effective April 1, 2014 and RipBang Studios will brand itself as RipBang Studios, a division of NELSON. RipBang will function as NELSON’s branding studio and all related services will be delivered under the RipBang Studios brand.

With a facilities focus, RipBang Studio’s Environmental Graphics design capabilities are highly complementary to NELSON’s existing work providing Interior Design and Architecture solutions to clients across multiple industries. Services include project identity, wayfinding, environmental artwork, exhibit design and brand experience. All phases from programming through design, design documentation, fabrication and installation coordination are provided at whatever scale is required, including projects as large as a 45 acre mixed-used office development or as complex as a 1,000,000 SF multi-level building with 125 sign types and more than 1,000 interior and exterior signs.

“What makes RipBang Studios so enticing for us is the breadth of their branding experience and the depth of their creativity,” said NELSON Chairman and CEO John “Ozzie” Nelson Jr. “NELSON has always had the ability to balance our focus on creation with our passion to deliver and to ‘dial up’ or ‘dial down’ elements of both based on our clients’ needs. Not only does RipBang Studios further enhance that ability, they also allow us to now build even stronger connections between our clients and their brands both within and beyond the workplace. It’s truly an exciting opportunity for us through which we can bring additional integrated value to our clients and expose NELSON to entirely new types of projects within our industry.”

“At RipBang Studios, our mission is to realize our clients’ vision through graphics and environments that communicate,” said Rowena Macaraeg, President of RipBang Studios, a division of NELSON. “We are very proud of the level of service and the personal attention that we bring to each project as a boutique firm, yet our size was keeping us back from being considered for some of the work that we knew we could handle both strategically and creatively. Now, as part of the NELSON network, we are able to bring the best of our boutique service to whole new level of projects at a whole new scale.”

“The RipBang clients will benefit, the NELSON clients will benefit, our prospects will benefit,” continued Bob Bangham, Principal and Creative Director of RipBang Studios, a division of NELSON, “and together with our new Teammates I believe that we will be able to change the way that people experience the spaces in which they choose to work and socialize. Because it is about choices – the choices clients make when they decide who to work with, that end-users make when they decide which spaces to visit and that we make every day when we choose how to work together to create and deliver unique experiences in those spaces.”

As NELSON, the combined firm will be comprised of almost 400 designers, architects, engineers, planners and strategists and branding experts. RipBang Studios, a division of NELSON, will remain based in Los Angeles, further expanding the firm’s West Coast presence, while partnering with Teammates at NELSON locations throughout the United States and around the world, including hub office locations in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Harrisburg, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, DC., New Delhi, India and Tokyo, Japan.

NELSON was founded in 1977 and has grown to an integrated services firm offering a full range of architecture, design, engineering and strategic consulting services. With Teammates in multiple locations around the world and strong experience in a broad range of industries, NELSON works with more than 20 percent of companies in the Fortune 100 and is nationally ranked as one of the top firms specializing in Corporate Office Design on Interior Design Magazine’s Top 100 Giants list. The firm also specializes in sustainable design and advisory services, the legal workplace, the financial industry, advertising/media firms, retail design, academic buildings, healthcare, government projects and multi-family housing. For more information, visit NELSONonline.com. For more information about RipBang Studios, a division of NELSON, visit ripbangstudios.com.

FOCUSING ON Retail and Hospitality

NELSON, a global architecture and design firm, announced it has merged operations with FRCH Design Worldwide, a leading retail and hospitality architecture and design firm to create one of the largest in the country with a focus on consumer experiences where people work, shop, dine, play, stay, live, and heal.

FOCUSING ON Architecture and Design Platforms

NELSON, a fast-growing global architecture, interior design, and consulting services firms, and Wakefield Beasley & Associates (WBA) and WB Interiors (WBI) have announced the finalization of their deal to join operations.

FOCUSING on doing good deeds

Core to NELSON’s mission is our commitment to partnering with the communities where we work and live to sustain them, as well as creating positive change through civic engagement and socially responsible behavior.

FOCUSING ON Design From the Outside In

In a move that will take them from a nationally recognized interior design firm to a true full-service architecture and design firm, NELSON, Cope Linder Architects, and KA Architecture will merge operations effective June 1, 2017.

FOCUSING ON DESIGN FROM THE OUTSIDE IN

In a move that will take them from a nationally recognized interior design firm to a true full-service architecture and design firm, NELSON, Cope Linder Architects, and KA Architecture will merge operations effective June 1, 2017.

CREATING innovative design

Capital One selected NELSON to help them design their Rolling Meadows location. The NELSON team worked with Capital One’s Design Team and Key Leaders to create their vision of an urban chic work environment.

FOCUSING on Architecture in healthcare design

In a move that will significantly expand architectural services in the southeast, global architecture, design, and consulting services firm, NELSON, is merging operations with Miami-based architecture firm, MGE Architects. The deal is effective immediately.

CREATING New Solutions

Tactix retained NELSON to provide interior design services for their new location in Center City Philadelphia. The team worked closely with executives to develop new design solutions to fit their needs.